10 ways to beat the winter blues

The depths of winter can result in many of us feeling low, but it doesn't have to be that way: here are her 10 tips for feeling chipper in the freezing weather:

1. Fidget

Winter blues are strongly linked with falling levels of the mood-boosting hormone serotonin that occur at this time of year. This is because enzymes that absorb serotonin become more active as days get shorter. Researchers at Princeton University in the US have found that rhythmic movements such as jiggling your leg, tapping your finger or chewing gum increase the release of serotonin. ‘You can also raise your levels via diet,’ says Dr Caroline Longmore, author of The Serotonin Secret. She suggests adding a serotonin-boosting food at each meal – her top 10 are turkey, bean sprouts, asparagus, sunflower seeds, lobster, cottage cheese, pineapple, tofu, spinach and bananas.

2. Embrace comfort

If you spend the whole winter moaning about the cold, the dark and the wet, you’re guaranteed to feel down. ‘Focus on the joys of winter,’ says motivation coach Robert Ashton, author of The Life Plan: 700 Simple Ways To Change Your Life For The Better. He suggests making a list of things you can only do now, such as going skiing or watching snow fall, or things that are just better done in winter, such as spending the night curled up with a book or drinking hot chocolate with whipped cream, and aiming to do one of them every day.

3. Have fun

‘A lot of people stop doing things they love in winter, and this alone can trigger feelings of depression,’ says Dr Jeremy Slaughter, clinical psychologist at London’s The Third Space health and fitness club. He suggests visualising what would make your perfect winter and then thinking how you can make it happen. This will increase the chances of it actually happening – and ‘people who set goals for themselves are generally happier anyway than those with no direction’, says Slaughter.

4. Increase your PEA levels

Found in high levels in blue-green algae, phenylethylamine (PEA) is a brain chemical that increases feelings of joy. ‘It does this by modulating positive neurotransmitters,’ says nutritionist Kirsten Brooks. ‘It will help you make more serotonin and inhibit its re-uptake, meaning what you do produce stays in your system longer.’ In a recent trial by Italian researchers*, women who were given algae supplements experienced up to 40 per cent lower depression symptoms within two months. Try Klamin algae extract supplements.

5. Listen to your body Are you feeling colder than normal or craving hot drinks and woolly jumpers? Then you might want to phone a friend or invite friends round. According to researchers at Canada’s University of Toronto, we feel colder or reach for warmer things when we’re feeling socially isolated or our mood is low.

6. Pump your ions

Michael Terman at Columbia University Medical Center has found that exposing winter-blues sufferers to negative ions (airborne electrical charges) cuts depression symptoms by up to 48 per cent, possibly because negative ions raise serotonin levels. In winter, negative ion levels are low because central heating, fluorescent lights and stuffy rooms all produce high levels of positive ions instead. Simple ways to increase negative ions include opening windows or running water.

7. Find your winter scent

‘Smell stimulates the limbic part of the brain, which is connected to emotions and memory,’ says Karl Watson, aromatherapist consultant at Tisserand. He suggests burning citrus oils around your home. ‘Inhaling citrus scents will bring a positive summer feeling into your winter home,’ he says. Or go for traditional wintry scents, such as myrrh and frankincense, both of which are natural mood boosters.

8. Keep your house clean

Winter conditions are highly conducive to mould – something Dr Edmond Shenassa at Brown Medical School in the US has linked to poor mood. ‘Toxins in mould have been shown to slow down the part of the brain that deals with emotions that we could experience as depression,’ he says. If your home is mould-prone, wiping affected areas with a solution of bleach and water will help.

Light is a natural mood booster, and exposure is the established way to beat winter depression. ‘For many people simple measures, such as getting 15 minutes of morning sunlight or switching to daylight bulbs, will be enough to beat it,’ says Victoria Revell, at the University of Surrey. Those suffering from seasonal affective disorder (SAD), however, may need more powerful therapy. Researchers from Canada’s Laval University have discovered that the retinas of SAD sufferers absorb less light than non-sufferers, meaning they don’t get the same boost from the same light levels. Light boxes that offer medical doses of light can help.